Beyond the Garden Gate

Before I embarked on this project to build a vegetable garden, I spent hundreds of hours on Pinterest, which I do believe was sent to earth by the devil to detain us from our regular hum drum lives, and to pine for the imagined fabulous lives being pinned on Pinterest.  Have you been there?

It is on Pinterest that I first fell in love with this garden:

There were no doubts in my mind.  After all, this setting looks very much like my own back yard.  I went so far as to purchase all the supplies for this fence, and put up a mock fence.  And instantly hated it.

Back to the drawing board.  

What followed was a series of bids by different fencing contractors.  In this event the light bulb only went off after I'd selected the actual contractor to do the job.  When the first company came out, I said YES!  When the second company came out, again I said YES!  So anxious was I to get my seedlings in the ground, I threw caution to the wind.

But then their bids came in.  They were high.  Very high.  As my mother pointed out, one can buy a shitload of organic veggies for the price of this fence.  What followed was a period of ..... nothing.  I sat and stared out at that patch of cleared dirt.  I ignored the calls from contractor 1 and 2.  

And then I met George.  He's been building fences in North Carolina for longer than you and I have been alive.  And he lives on my street!  Heck, I've even been in his house (it's for sale)!   He's just plain good folk, speaks frankly, and employs his grandson on his fence building team, who calls me ma'am all the time, and calls his grandfather "Paw Paw". 

George's bid was decent.  It was more in the line of what I imagined.  And so, I know I'm not telling you anything new or brilliant - but yes, get multiple bids!  I'm so glad I did.

In the mean time, while I wait for George and his team to start, I did go out and buy a garden gate. 

I am thrilled with this vintage find.  The hubby?  Not so much.